Catholic schools are winners in the education game
Next to hockey, education seems to dominate the Canadian media. And just like hockey, education is reported as a sport. Winners and losers, weaknesses and strengths, who should stay, who should be traded, who’s not contributing to the team, who’s first and who’s last.
May this be Ukraine’s 1989
A quadrennial custom I look forward to is writing a column mocking the absurdity of the Winter Olympics. Hockey aside, silly sports contested by people otherwise unknown somehow become moments of national pride. “Cheering on the oddballs” was how my editor headlined the 2010 version for Vancouver. Hoist the maple leaf — our man won skateboarding on snow!
G.K. and the God debate
God was abundant at the Toronto archdiocese’s recent inaugural Chesterton Debate. Dear old G.K., unfortunately, was in notably shorter supply.
An unfair attack
It’s hard to complain when the Church gets taken to the woodshed over the sex abuse scandals. But a UN committee has gone way too far in a narrow-minded report that, by its omissions, is dishonest to the point of appearing vindictive and written principally to humiliate the Church.
Rolling with the punches
Papa is in Rolling Stone. Which is not exactly what The Temptations sang in 1973, but then at that time who could have expected that the Pope — then Paul VI — would have been on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, the magazine of pop music, with occasional forays into cultural criticism?
Rolling Stone and the Pope: what a shame
It is official: Pope Francis is a rock star. Or, at least that is what Rolling Stone magazine is announcing to the world by putting the Pontiff on its current cover.
- By Robert Brehl
Say no to wall
Israeli leaders have a fundamental duty to provide safety and security for their citizens. But they must act reasonably, and that does not include a carte-blanche license to bulldoze the rights and livelihoods of innocent people who pose no threat to anyone.
Re-defining ‘creed’ stirs up controversy
The recent incident at Toronto’s York University, in which a student sought exemption from group work due to religious beliefs that forbid contact with women, attracted much media attention but perhaps did not shine as much attention as it could have on how the Ontario Human Rights Code interprets religion and gender as grounds for discrimination. On at least one level the York situation was a conflict between competing rights.
Israel and Christian ambivalence
The visit of Stephen Harper to Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan has been judged a success. Israel’s government was ecstatic for Harper’s steadfast support, the Palestinians overlooked that and were grateful for tens of millions in Canadian aid for schools and security. There were good media reviews at home, and favourable contrasts were drawn with the last visit of a Canadian prime minister to Israel, Jean Chretien’s bumbling and error-strewn tour in 2000.
Quebec’s education decline
Late last week, the Catholic girls school at the top of my street announced it would close its doors permanently at the end of this school year. In its 126th year, Queen of Angels Academy simply cannot afford to continue.
The media as a vast enterprise of neighbourliness
“You just want to sell newspapers!” is one of the most interesting insults that every reporter and editor hears at some point. There aren’t many professions liable to quite that sort of calumny.